Fair Trade Blog

Patricia Lewis, who lives with her canine companion in Canada, has been a good customer. We share a passion for the Arghand Cooperative, which I have written about in the space many times. Patricia started by buying their distinctive soaps from us. Just recently, she bought Arghand scarves that we first began offering earlier this spring.

I ask her to send me some thoughts about her recent purchase and this is what she had to say. 

Discerning shopper?  Travel the world and find the same stores, same malls, selling the same merchandise you find in your local mall at home?  Handcrafted treasures are increasingly going the way of the dinosaur, now pretty much in the stages of the polar bear — threatened.  Cheaper mass-produced, often synthetic assembly-line goods are taking their place.  Our culture, one that clearly embraces uniqueness and individuality, is also disappearing. Doesn’t have to be entirely so.

Make a statement with your purchasing power — support handcrafted treasures made by traditional methods that date back to antiquity, at the same time fuelling little economies that enable people to live self-sufficently and also pass down their dignified crafts to the next generations, who can also take pride in their talents, works of art, and honest labours. 

Celebrate your lovely new purchase and wear it smartly.

Buy smart, dress smart. I like that. Thanks, Patricia.

Keep shopping your good values!

Spring.  Time for the new.  Time to clear out the not so new. 

Ten turns of beads and bangles!   These Kenyan bracelets wrap your wrist in color.

Bright and shiny.  Silver earrings made in Chile to add a little sparkle in just the right places!

Intriguing Haitian wall hangings.  Each time you look at the Voodoo art design, cut and shaped from reclaimed oil drums, you’ll see something slightly different. 

Clothing on sale.  All of our blouses are discounted!  Need something cool and breezy this season?  How about a colorful top from Ecuador? 

Keep shopping your good values!

… and Start a Revolution!”

Zendik Arts Farm is an intentional community in West Virginia that believes you can change the world by expressing yourself. Their mission statement says they believe in creative survival and social change through the arts.

We carry the T-Shirt that expresses their core values. By wearing their T, you can tell other people to “Stop Bitching and Start a Revolution.”

They’re organic cotton and come in cool colors including natural, mustard, galaxy blue, and pomegranate.

Wulf and Arol Zendik, an unconventional and somewhat controversial couple, founded a commune in California in 1969. Wulf evolved the belief that nature’s ultimate purpose is to expand consciousness and that our choices influence that evolution. Based on this thinking, the current community, lead by the Zendik’s daughter Fawn, attempts to use earth-friendly systems to sustain themselves on the farm while promoting their message of change.

Their message and their T-Shirts definitely get people talking.

Keep shopping your good values!

Mother’s Day is upon us once again, so many of you are thinking about what to give your mother this weekend that will delight and honor her. Well, I ran across this from Maureen Mackey of the Portland Green Living Examiner.

Her list of ten ways to honor your mother and Mother Earth.

1. Give her that old standby, a bouquet of flowers, but look for the VeriFlora logo that indicates the flowers were sustainably grown. You can find VeriFlora blooms at flower shops and grocery stores, including New Seasons, Safeway, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods.

2. Don’t forget that other time-tested Mom favorite, chocolate, but search for fair trade chocolate at your favorite chocolate shop or grocery store.

3. Give her house, or even one room, an eco-friendly Spring Cleaning with green cleaners.

4. Plant a tree in her honor.

5. Show Mother Earth you appreicate her beautiful nature by walking or bike riding.

6. Go see the movie Earth, which celebrates our planet and the creatures who live on it. Look for local theaters and showtimes here.

7.  Buy her fair-trade jewelry, so she knows her adornments were crafted sustainably and the artisans who created it were treated fairly.

8. Visit a Farmer’s Market to buy locally-produced food.

9. Buy your mother fruit or vegetable starts and offer to help her plant them.

10. Consider becoming a Zoo Patron to suppport wildlife conservation. 

Happy Mother’s Day!

Keep shopping your good values!